


The Calm After the Storm

by JehanetteProuvaire



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, after Power of the Daleks, all up to you, maybe platonic, maybe romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 11:00:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21298352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JehanetteProuvaire/pseuds/JehanetteProuvaire
Summary: After escaping the Daleks on Vulcan, Polly seeks a quiet moment.Set immediately after The Power of the Daleks.
Relationships: Ben Jackson/Polly Wright
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10
Collections: Public Call - Doctor Who fic exchange 2019





	The Calm After the Storm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AuroraCloud](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraCloud/gifts).

The hum of the TARDIS was soothing in a way Polly rarely thought about until she, Ben, and the Doctor had returned to it after some adventure. Stepping back inside was like sliding into a warm bath, albeit for her ears rather than her skin.

She would be the first to admit it wasn’t a perfect comparison. It worked on the surface level, at least. She just shouldn’t start wishing for bubbles or scented oils to pop up around here.

Though after dealing with the Daleks, she couldn’t help but think both of those would be very welcome.

Even with the Daleks defeated and their metal shells left broken across Vulcan, Polly felt they couldn’t get off the planet quickly enough. She didn’t want to even look at them, and she kept her eyes firmly on the men as they left the mercury pools and noxious atmosphere behind. It wasn’t a perfect method; the Daleks must have created hundreds of themselves before the Doctor stopped them, and they had begun to spread across the planet. Every so often, she would catch one out of the corner of her eye, and she couldn’t help but turn her head to look.

But they were dead. They were all dead, their shells cracked and the things inside them helpless. She didn’t have to worry.

No matter how often she told herself that, she didn’t breathe easily until she was in the TARDIS, the door closed behind her and the engine groaning as the little-but-not-so-little police box flung them out into time and space, hopefully to somewhere better than Vulcan had been.

Not that she expected everywhere they went to be fun and games. Whatever chance brought them to new planets seemed to like finding moments of crisis for them. Still, she hoped they might get another chance to catch their breaths. Between the Daleks and the Doctor somehow being both the Doctor and a new man entirely, they could all use one.

The Doctor flitted about the consoles, throwing switches and muttering to himself. That should have been a little familiar, but the tone of his muttering had changed. It would take her some time to get used to that.

Ben’s hand on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts. “All right, Polly?” he asked.

She nodded and rolled her shoulders, noticing how tense they were. “Fine,” she said. “I’d only like a hot bath.”

“Oh, me too,” Ben said, wrinkling his nose. “I never want to smell mercury again.”

* * *

Even if parts of the TARDIS could look spartan, the bathrooms were ideal. Polly had found one with a tub just the right size for her, and she filled it up with hot water. (No bubbles or scented oil, but that was fine. More than anything else, she wanted the warmth.) The heat enveloped her as she sank in, and for a few minutes she just lay still, her hair spilling out around her head, her face the only thing above the surface.

Then she dunked her head fully beneath the water, sat up, and grabbed some soap to scrub herself off. Once she was clean, she lay about in the water until it started to grow cold, then drained it (to where, she had always wondered), dried herself off, and wrapped up in a robe.

She had just finished brushing her hair when someone knocked on the door. It could only be one of two people, but still she called, “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” said a muffled, Cockney voice. “Can I come in?”

“Sure,” she said, and once Ben was inside and had the door closed behind him, she added, “Good thing the Doctor doesn’t sound like he’s from the East End. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t tell you two apart.”

Ben grinned. “At least I’m still better looking than him, right?”

For the first time since Vulcan, that got her to laugh. “I meant through the door. The only way you can say ‘it’s me’ and expect me to know it’s you is that you two still sound completely different.”

“Well, it’s not my fault if he suddenly starts to sound like he grew up in Whitechapel. He’ll just have to announce himself, then.” Ben dropped onto the edge of her bed, but almost as soon as he hit the mattress, his indignation faded away. “Polly… what do you think of him? This new Doctor, I mean.”

“I know who you mean,” she said softly. Her bath had rejuvenated her, but now she felt weary all over again. “You know, I had a bit of time to think, and I don’t know if he really is a new Doctor.”

“He is the Doctor, though,” Ben said, almost rising. “The way he handled those Daleks --”

“Oh, I know,” Polly said quickly. “No one but the Doctor could have gotten us out of that mess, at least not with many more dying.” Maybe there would have been a way, but she couldn’t imagine it, and she rather doubted Ben could either. “In fact, that’s just what I mean. I don’t know if we can talk about old Doctors and new Doctors when in the end he’s the same man.”

“Is he, though?” Ben had settled back onto the bed, but now he frowned. “All that recorder playing and that odd hat… I don’t know. If he just looked different, that’d be one thing, but he acts completely different, too. It’d be like if I gained a hundred pounds and started giving speeches about fighting on the hills and never surrendering, but still expected you to call me just the same old Ben.”

“But he doesn’t expect us…” Polly sighed and set down her hairbrush. It was like this all too often, especially with the Doctor. She’d start saying one thing, but then get turned around and wind up arguing the exact opposite. “I don’t know, Ben. Sometimes he seems to act like the Doctor, sometimes he seems to be a different man entirely. He knows it, too, and --”

There was another knock at the door. There was only one person it could be.

Even so, Polly called out, “Who’s there?”

“It’s me,” said a somewhat muffled voice.

Polly raised her eyebrows at Ben, who shrugged, looking slightly miffed.

“What is it, Doctor?” she called, picking up her hairbrush to finish the job. If she let it dry without at least getting through it once, it would be an utter rat’s nest.

“When you get a chance, could you come out to the front door?” he asked. “I think I have something you’d like to see.”

“Of course,” Polly said. “Just let me finish brushing my hair.” On her bed, Ben sat stock still, as though even the slightest might betray that he was there. Polly didn’t entirely understand what he was so worried about. Back home, it might have looked bad, but things were different here. Old rules didn’t apply once you’d been to the ends of the universe and back.

“Oh, there’s no need to rush,” the Doctor said. “We’ve all the time in the world.” He laughed, and maybe it was because she was still thinking about how he had saved them both from the Daleks, but Polly didn’t hear the slightest bit of menace in his voice. “Would you pass along the message to Ben? I haven’t seen a trace of him.”

“I will,” Polly said, giving Ben a quick look. He grimaced. “I’ll see you in a few minutes, Doctor.”

Ben didn’t move for nearly a minute, and then he rose and crossed to Polly, setting his hands on her shoulders again. She had to stop brushing her hair, but she didn’t mind much. It would only be for a moment, and he probably had something important to say.

It must be very important, as for several seconds he only looked at her, while a mix of emotions played across his face.

When he did speak, though, it was only to say, “All right, Polly?”

“Yes,” she said. “I’m fine.” When that didn’t seem to reassure him, she set a hand atop his and sqeezed gently.

Ben smiled. “I’ll see you in a few minutes, then,” he said. “Don’t worry. I’ll try to be easy to find.”

* * *

Polly “found” Ben walking through one of the hallways. He looked for a moment as though he wanted to start some idle chatter about what a surprise it was to see her here, but he must have thought better of it at almost the same time she did. He only smiled, and she smiled in return.

“Are you ready?” Polly asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Ben said. “What do you think the Doctor has to show us?”

If it were the old Doctor, Polly could have come up with a few guesses. With this new Doctor, though… “I’m not sure.”

“We’ll find out together, then.” Ben put an arm around her shoulders, and together they walked to the front door of the TARDIS.

The gesture was sweet, and rather comforting. Polly leaned against him, glad she had such a good friend.

They found the Doctor at the console. His smile was unfamiliar, but all the same there was something about it which made Polly certain he really was the Doctor, and always would be, no matter what his body looked like or how he acted. Something about him would stay the same, and maybe (hopefully) that was the important part.

“Well?” he asked. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as we can be,” Ben said. “What is it you have planned for us?”

“Oh, you’ll see.” He laughed and gestured for Polly and Ben to approached the door. They did so, and Ben pulled it open.

At once, a spray of cold, salty water struck Polly’s face. She cried out, and Ben started to shout, but Polly set a hand on his arm and said, “No, look!”

As soon as he saw what she saw, he fell silent.

Before them was a sea, but unlike any Polly could have seen on Earth. The water was a deep indigo, and waves frothed and foamed before them. The TARDIS sat on a thin spit of land, just wide enough to fit the box; when Polly looked down, she could see only the very edges of the shore before it sank away into the ocean.

And further out, but still close enough to cover half the sky, a great mass of blue-gray clouds roiled in a storm drawing ever closer. Wind whipped Polly’s hair about her face, and when she leaned forward, she felt as though the air itself pushed her back.

“This is amazing,” she said. “I’ve never seen such a beautiful storm.”

“Beautiful, but dangerous,” said the Doctor. He had come up right behind them, but Polly was too enchanted by the sight before her to be alarmed. “You should never forget that.”

“But we’re safe here, aren’t we?” Ben said. His hand slipped down to Polly’s holding it tight.

“Oh, quite,” the Doctor said, his flippant tone restored. “No matter how close the storm comes, you will be most secure in the TARDIS. Watch as long as you please; we won’t leave until the two of you are ready.”

Not letting go of Ben’s hand, Polly carefully kicked off her shoes and stuck them behind her. She sat down and carefully dipped her feet into the chilly water. It slipped between her toes, and a shiver ran up her spine. After only a moment, Ben joined her.

“So?” he whispered. “What do you think?”

He didn’t mean the storm. She could tell. “I think it’ll be all right,” she said, and squeezed his hand. She didn’t have to say exactly what she thought would be all right. Ben could probably tell that just fine.

Everything.


End file.
